A quick view overview of tasks can be seen by enabling the FreeRTOS task view. Using these tasks can prove to be very beneficial while developing RTOS applications:
- After the MCU program has been started, pause execution by clicking the Pause button.
- Now, navigate to View | FreeRTOS Task View:
This view shows many useful pieces of information at a glance:
- Task names and priorities.
- Timeout: How many ticks a blocked task has until it is forced out of the blocked state.
- Each task's stack usage (only the current stack usage is shown by default). Maximum stack usage is disabled in the preceding screenshot (seen by N/A)—(details on configuring FreeRTOS to monitor maximum stack usage will be covered in Chapter 17, Troubleshooting Tips and Next Steps).
- Mutex Count: How many mutexes a task currently holds.
- Notifications: Details on each task's notifications.
Having a bird's eye view of all of the tasks in the system can be a huge help when developing an RTOS-based application—especially during the initial phases of development.